Rules of the Maia Song Contest

The official rules for the Maia Song Contest can be found here, and all MBU countries are expected to follow these while participating in the contest. Failure to comply with these rules may result in strikes being given out.

Format
The contest will consist of a grand final, and in the case where there are more participants than can reasonably compete in one show, semi-finals will be introduced. The hosting nation, in addition to the six highest-scoring countries of the previous contest, automatically qualify to the grand final and do not participate in the semi-finals round of the contest.

Prior to #13, the contest typically had twenty-five finalists. From #13 onwards, it is expected that there will be twenty-six finalists - consisting of ten qualifiers from two semi-finals, the five highest-scoring nations of the previous edition, and the host nation.

Participation
To compete, a country must have a national broadcaster that has active membership in the Maia Broadcasting Union. Associate members may not participate. In addition to this, countries who withdraw for two consecutive editions may be relegated to free up space for other countries. Exceptions may be given at the discretion of the MBU.

If a nation announces their permanent withdrawal - it has until the end of the seventh day after it was announced (in CET) to inform the MBU that they changed their mind. Should they not change their mind, they will be taken off of the roster, and have to return through the waiting list.

Entries
Each participating country can send no more than one entry per edition; all entries must also fit the following criteria:


 * The performing artist of a song must have been aged 16+ at the point of release.
 * An artist cannot be sent more than three consecutive times. Upon the third selection in a row, the artist in question cannot be selected again for at least three editions.
 * Songs must be at least two minutes in length, and should be no longer than six minutes in total. Exceptions can be made with approval.
 * Covers and remixes require permission from the MBU.
 * The song must not have competed or be competing in the Eurovision Song Contest, or any national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest. As of #2, Turkvision songs are also not eligible for entry.
 * The song cannot have been performed in the Maia Song Contest before, including if the song has been sung by a different artist.
 * An artist cannot represent more than one country in any given edition.
 * Songs that have achieved high results in official spin-offs are generally not permitted to compete in the Maia Song Contest.
 * All songs must be free of hateful or political lyrics.
 * Official music videos or lyric videos should be provided for entries, preferably via Youtube. Other video types (ie. live performances or fanmade videos) must be approved by the MBU first.


 * Mainstream artists and songs will not be accepted in order to promote originality and fairness. Criteria for what constitutes a "mainstream" artist can be seen below.


 * A country will only have rights to an artist should they have a wiki page, or if they represented said country in a previous edition of the contest, or one of its spinoffs.
 * Having an artist in a NF is not enough, however, nobody else can use this artist without the country's permission until the selection is over, unless it is delayed to a future edition.
 * Sending entries in a pattern, in the patterns of periodically alternating artists, or mirroring the selection order from a country in another contest, is not allowed.

What makes a song "mainstream"?

 * High chart success in multiple countries, or in a major country.
 * 100 million+ views on Youtube.
 * Large amount of streams within a short time period (within days/weeks of release), making it likely to become very mainstream.

Selection
An entry can be selected either internally or by a national selection format, run at the hosts discretion. The only rules regarding national selection events is that the winning entry must abide with the contest rules, and in the event that international juries are asked to help with the national choice, their votes must not be tampered with. The host broadcaster is given a high degree flexibility with the running of these formats, however voting from other users is always optional and cannot be made compulsory.

Languages
There are no restrictions relating to spoken language of entries, however all lyrics must abide by the same rules.

Voting
The voting system in place for Maia Song Contest is 12, 10, 8-1 points to the ten favourite songs. All participating countries must vote in the semi-final they are allocated, as well as the grand final, or may incur penalties. This includes countries who have not qualified from the semi-finals voting in the final. Standard procedure for non-voting is a 50% points reduction, as well as being disqualified from qualifying to the final (in the case of semis), and receiving a strike. The MBU may decide not to award a strike in mitigating circumstances. A country cannot vote for its own entry. Voting must be fair, free, and transparent. Members are absolutely not permitted to discuss their votes before they have been officially revealed, and may face consequences if these rules are breached. They must also not try to influence the vote of other members, or face permanent removal from the contest.

Spokespersons
A spokesperson cannot deliver the votes for more than one country per edition - a first-come first-serve basis is generally employed in the event of a dispute. In the event that a spokesperson is not selected by the national broadcaster of said nation at the time, a spokesperson will be sent from the MBU. All spokespersons must be human.

Winning
The country with the highest score at the end of the contest will be crowned the winner of that edition. In the event of a tie, a countback will take place. The country to receive points from the greatest number of countries will win the contest. If there is still a tie, then a second tie-breaker counts the total number of 12s received. Tie-breaks continue with ten points, eight points, and so on until the tie is resolved.

If the tie cannot be resolved after the number of countries which assigned one point to the song is equal, the song performed earlier in the running order is declared the winner unless the host country performed earlier (in which case the song performed later would be the winner). The same method will be used for other ties within the scoreboard.

Hosting
The winner of the previous edition of the contest is the country who will win the right to host the next contest, and they will do so in collaboration with the MBU. In the event that the winner declines the opportunity to host, the second highest-scoring country will be offered the chance, and if they reject this offer the third-placed country will be asked, and so-forth. The host of the contest will be responsible for the presentation of the contest including a theme and logo. Assistance may be requested.